Where to live in Philadelphia with Children

[solibs]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

As you're renting in New Jersey, the taxes won't be any different other than the Philadelphia Wage Tax, where your amount paid will be credited towards your New Jersey State Tax at the end of the year. Good luck!

Exactly. if you live in PA and work in Center City you have the privilege of a longer and more expensive commute and of paying your PA income tax and the city wage tax.

And don't be fooled - a lot of suburban towns in PA also have a wage tax. When it comes time to buy a house you'll find that taxes vary broadly from town-to-town in both states. Depending on which two towns you're comparing NJ property taxes can be 0-25% higher than PA with comparable properties.

When you start to factor in commute times and costs, income taxes and NJ property tax rebates you start to see that the differences are nil.

Something else I wasn't aware of until recently - when you get about 15 miles out from Center City in PA you start running into a lot of developments that don't have city water and/or sewer hook-ups. So be careful when you see property taxes below $4000/year.

Anyway, from what I hear, property taxes in suburban Detroit are pretty comparable to this area so you probably won't find any of it too eye-popping.

[BPP1999]

Originally Posted by solibs

And don't be fooled - a lot of suburban towns in PA also have a wage tax.

True, but you will be allowed a credit against any and all such local income taxes if you pay the Philadelphia wage tax.

[PhillyViaBoston]

Consider towns along the R3 train line, particularly those in the highly rated Wallingford-Swarthmore and/or Media-RoseTree school districts. it's a nice family/kid-friendly area. From Media or Wallingford it's about 25 minutes to take the R3 train into Center City Philadelphia (with two different stops - 17th & JFK and 11th & Market - near your husband's work). My impression is that both Swarthmore & Media have pretty healthy rental markets which might give you a good start to investigate the area more thoroughly. Good luck!